


spaceman jones would never lie (and other short stories)

by philthestone



Series: pocket full of sand 'verse [9]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, CANT BELIEVE IM POSTING THIS CENTURIES OLD WIP, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 21:45:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9846944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/philthestone/pseuds/philthestone
Summary: There is a long, extended pause, the kind within Life Altering Realizations are usually made. Indeed, Luke thinks (if Luke were a little older than nine and used words likeindeedin regular conversation) it’s the kind of pause that precludes a person yelling out loud, or gripping at their hair (both things that are once again borrowed from Spaceman Jones’s daring adventures), or, in fact, talking really loudly over one another in a sort of hyper-frenzied babble because you’ve both just realized that you’re long-lost siblings.





	

**Author's Note:**

> CANT BELIEVE THIS AU IS STILL ALIVE AND IM STILL WRITING FOR IT im sorry im a terrible person
> 
> anyways, this fic is .... literally two years old, but i finished it and posted it on tumblr for maya's birthday and now im finally posting it here. 
> 
> reviews are love! enjoy!

Aunt ‘Soka’s house – or, as Leia starts to call it, The Rebel Hideout (capitalized, as Luke has come to realize is a trend with Leia, for Importance) – is not so much a house as it is a cellar _under_ another house. Luke finds it somewhat confusing that this little hidey-hole and his mother’s lavish apartment on Coruscant can both be called houses. One of them, he reasons, must not be a house. Someone must have named something incorrectly somewhere along the way, and really, Luke thinks, _really_ , it’s terribly unfair that such an irresponsible criminal who names things incorrectly has not been brought to justice when they, personally, are apparently considered Fugitives Under Imperial Law.

 _Terribly_ unfair.

Leia agrees with him, when he brings this up with her. Luke nods, somewhat relieved that she does, and tries to make himself comfortable on their shared camp bed in the corner of the room.

When Senator Organa and Luke’s Aunt Sabe first find the four of them buried under blankets in the wreckage of the Coruscant apartment, dirty and hungry and, Luke will admit, a little scared, they say that they’ll be taken somewhere safe. Somewhere hidden.

Luke has never heard of Lothal before now, but apparently, it falls in the “safe and hidden” category.

Temporarily, at any rate.

The first time Luke sees the lithe, blue-eyed Togruta, it’s about three weeks after he has met Leia Skywalker and Han Solo and Chewbacca the wookiee, three weeks after Mom was arrested for treason against the Empire and his whole entire life was turned upside down. Leia is the first to speak, to break the undercurrents of tension that had been rippling under any and all of their interactions since the moment they’d stepped onboard Senator Organa’s ship, yelling Ahsoka Tano’s name in delight and running forward to embrace her. Leia is usually the first to speak, Luke’s learned over the past few weeks – unless Han manages to get something in first, which always ends up annoying Leia to no end. They’ve struck a delicate balance.

Either way – Luke has never met a Togruta before.

He wonders briefly if all Togrutas are this _cool_ , or if this one is an exception.

Luke finds that it is startlingly easy to slip into referring to Ahsoka Tano as Leia does. The name “Aunt ‘Soka” sounds normal and natural and nice in his mouth. Leia’s known Aunt ‘Soka a very long time, apparently; Leia, Luke thinks, seems to know a lot of people better than he does, except for maybe Senator Organa and Aunt Sabe. Only, Luke tells himself that it’s silly to be amazed by this, because after all, her father _is_ Anakin Skywalker, and he must know _everyone_.

Their. _Their_ , he suddenly has to correct, his tummy thrilling like it has been every time he’s remembered for the whole past day. _Their_ father.

They find the holorecording a month after they start hiding out with Aunt ‘Soka, when it falls out of Leia’s Dad’s traveling rucksack, stashed away with Aunt ‘Soka soon after Leia said he’d disappeared.

“He stopped by here,” Aunt ‘Soka tells them one afternoon, digging through a crate of ration bars that Han and Chewie had managed to nick from the transiting Imperial shipment earlier that day. _We need to eat_ , Han had told Luke, obviously noticing his discomfort. _You rather we die, Kid_?

Aunt ‘Soka holds a bar out to Leia, who ignores it and stares at her with rapt attention instead. “Here,” she adds, “take one. They’re mostly fresh.”

Luke takes it from her instead, because he thinks that it’s the polite thing to do, even if the bars taste lousy.

“Where was he going?” demands Leia, big brown eyes even bigger than usual. Leia has difficulty saying anything that isn’t either a declaration or a demand – perhaps that’s just a function of her voice, Luke wonders. He doesn’t think she really intends to; her tangled dark hair hangs in two pigtails on either side of her face, braided messily, and there are spots of colour high on her cheeks, as round as his own. “Did he tell you? D’you know where he is?”

Aunt ‘Soka does a strange thing that Luke understands only later; a nervous glance in his direction and a fleeting scraping of her teeth against her lower lip, her blue eyes flicking downwards and not quite looking Leia in the eye before she answers: “I – I’m not entirely sure. But we’ll find him, Ley. I promise.”

Leia, Luke has come to learn, is very smart.

“You’re lying,” she says, her voice sounding funny, like it’s stretched too tight over something. “Don’t say that, Aunt ‘Soka. _Don’t_. You _know_.”

“Kiddo,” says Aunt ‘Soka, and her eyes are so sad, all of a sudden. “I don’t know where he is. But he left his things here, and –”

“He did?” Leia’s small hands are gripping the back of the chair tightly. Luke knows the look on her face – like she’s trying really hard not to cry. She hasn’t seen her dad for even longer than Luke hasn’t seen his mom, he knows.

“A rucksack.” Aunt ‘Soka pauses, tossing another ration bar on the table. “You can look through it, if you like. It might have some clues.”

Only, “clues” is perhaps the biggest understatement of the century – the millennia – the _universal beginning_ (whatever that means; Luke heard it once in one of those Spaceman Jones: Hotshot Gunner Pilot holoserials that Mom would let him watch on weekends, and it _sounds_ cool) – because didn’t Luke _mention_ that Mom and Leia’s dad disappeared around the same time and _holy blaster bolts that’s_ Mom.

 _Mom_.

In the rucksack.

In the holorecording.

Saying “I love you.”

 _Force almighty_.

Leia stares at the woman flickering in the holorecording for half a second before Luke finds himself yanking it from her fingers with trembling hands and zeroing in on the grainy details of the woman’s face; her arched eyebrows and full, smiling lips and the crinkles around her eyes and the mole at the side of her cheek. The corner of the disk is scuffed where it tumbled out from its spot tucked almost reverently away in the innermost pocket of the bag and clattered onto the duracrete floor, in the basement corner room with the curtain where Aunt ‘Soka said Leia’s dad had stayed, and Luke gapes for a half-moment more before he feels the word tear its way out of his mouth.

“ _MOM_?”

Leia Skywalker gapes at him, big brown eyes ( _and don’t they look like mom’s?_ ) and messy messy hair ( _mom’s hair is shiny just like that_ ) and pink-in-the-cheeks, and isn’t that the same way mom’s fair skin flushes when she’s angry or tumbling over the bed laughing, Luke himself lying on the floor giggling his head off?

“Wha – what’re you. _Luke_.”

“That’s –” He’s croaking, there’s no other way to describe it – “that’s my _mom_.”

And – oh. There’s something wet on Luke’s cheeks, and he really didn’t mean to start crying. He’s not crying, though, he’s just.

 _Mom_.

“Mom?” He whispers it again, and Leia is still looking at him like he’s grown three heads and – “Hey!” She’s yanked it out of his fingers, of _course_ she has, she can’t just – “Give it back!”

(He is indignant enough not to notice the way her hands are trembling where they hold the holo, flustered and upset and _annoyed_ that she’s using her elbow to fend him off.)

“Give it, _back_ , Leia –!”

“ _Wait_!” she says, all-suffering or whatever the proper term is, and – Luke splutters and chokes and gasps at once, because she’s rewinded it and they’re watching it _all over again_.

“… _iss you, Ani. Luke’s gotten so big, you know, he’s almost tall enough to touch the ceiling of the bedroom when he stands on the bed? He’s got your eyes, my love, and they’re so bright.”_ A pause, the holo flickering in time with the shaky breath she seems to take. “ _I’ve been in contact with Bail. There are rumors – a datafile, that’s been encrypted by an Imperial science officer. We think we might be able to get our hands on it. I’ll keep in touch via the underground. Stay safe – don’t do anything rash. I love you._ ”

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

_I love –_

“Oh, gods,” says Leia. “Oh, _gods_. Oh, the _everloving Force_.”

“That’s,” repeats Luke for what feels like the billionth time, “that’s my _mom_.”

And then he really is crying, because he’s _missed_ her, because that’s _her_ voice, _her_ face, _her_ saying “I love you” and even if it isn’t to him, it still _is_ , and suddenly a small body is slamming into him and gripping him really tight and through the hug Leia is still on the verge of blaspheming; Mom always said the Force was sacred, he remembers.

“ _Oh Force, oh Force, oh Force, oh_ –”

“Leia,” croaks Luke, not through his tears at all, because he is a grown up nine year old and now is not the time for anything so childish as crying. “Why does your dad have a holo of my mom in his bag?”

Leia pulls away.

And blinks at him. Her eyes are a little bit bright, like she’s also about to cry, which is weird, because Luke thought that Leia was invincible to tears, she was so tough.

There is a long, extended pause, the kind within Life Altering Realizations are usually made. Indeed, Luke thinks (if Luke were a little older than nine and used words like _indeed_ in regular conversation) it’s the kind of pause that precludes a person yelling out loud, or gripping at their hair (both things that are once again borrowed from Spaceman Jones’s daring adventures), or, in fact, talking really loudly over one another in a sort of hyper-frenzied babble because you’ve both just realized that you’re long-lost siblings.

Luke never knew his father. Leia’s father knows his mother. Luke’s mother loves Leia’s father. Leia’s father is Luke’s father. Leia’s father is –

“ _Anakin Skywalker_ ,” Luke is yelling, “ _my dad_ is _Anakin Skywalker_!”

“Who is _also my dad_!” This is Leia yelling. “And you’re – _you’re_ my brother!”

“But we’re the same _age_!” says Luke, as though this somehow contradicts the Great Sibling Realization.

“That _doesn’t matter_ ,” says Leia, because Leia chooses to be succinct about things, rather than saying “contradicts the Great Sibling Realization” like a fancy senator person.

“I don’t sound like a fancy senator person,” protests Luke.

“You _do too_ ,” says Leia. “And you’re my _brother_. And our parents _lied_.”

Her own eyes suddenly widen at that statement, as though it had really not quite sunk in until her voice betrayed her and spoke it out loud. Luke is a little bit shaken; Mom would never lie. She’d _never_. And Anakin Skywalker is the most awesome, legendary rebel leader in the galaxy, renowned star pilot, one of the very few Jedi to still exist, and Luke’s always imagined he was something like Spaceman Jones. Spaceman Jones, Luke knows, would also, _never_ , lie.

“Tha – that’s. They probably had,” says Luke, “a _reason_.”

“A reason,” repeats Leia, and here is where the Complications arise. Nothing, it seems, is not complicated about their life; not since Luke’s mom got arrested.

Right around the same time Leia’s dad disappeared. 

Both of whom are their collective mutual parents, and they _lied_ , and even though Aunt ‘Soka and Aunt Sabe and Senator Organa could probably all collectively explain (this is something Han points out later, in a ridiculously casual voice for such a ridiculously un-casual conversation, which had not occurred to Luke or Leia, and it’s equal parts helpful and generally miserable because _oh gods,_ they _knew_ too _?_ ) –

Luke’s wonders if, on the other side of the galaxy, Leia had spent nights before bed sitting out on the balcony and looking up at the stars, scattering the inky sky like searchlights, maps, things that brought you _home_ – wondering about her mother like he did his father. 

If her house had a balcony, that is. Luke knows now that not all houses look alike.

“I’m glad,” says Luke suddenly, now that he has a chance, before they go into the kitchen to face Aunt ‘Soka or have to move Rebel Hideouts or get caught up worrying about where their parents _really_ are and if they’re _alright_ , because Luke has not forgotten that until recently, he was being held captive in the Senate Building and his mother’s been arrested by the Nefarious Empire and he was just recently rescued by a scrappy farmgirl and a teenager with a stolen ship – Luke says, “I’m glad. That you’re my sister.”

(They’re the same height, after all. It makes quite a lot of sense.)

“Me too,” says Leia, her eyes still too-bright to not be holding at least three and a half tears, her voice a little shaky. “But I’m taller.”

“Well, then,” says Luke. “ _I’m_ older.”

Leia gasps in mortal offense. 

For a moment, the chaos of the galaxy is put on hold ( _the chaos of the galaxy_ , as Spaceman Jones would say) and Luke grins at his twin sister.


End file.
